Composer
C. P. E. Bach
Johann Sebastian's son - and the bridge between Bach and Haydn.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was the second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in his own lifetime he was the more famous of the two: to 18th-century musicians, "Bach" usually meant Emanuel. His restless, surprising, intensely emotional music forms a bridge between the Baroque and the Classical style of Haydn and Mozart.
Life in brief
Emanuel was born in Weimar in 1714; his godfather was the composer Telemann. He learned music from his father, but studied law at university before committing himself to a musical career. Around 1738 he joined the musical household of the crown prince of Prussia, soon to become Frederick the Great, and for almost thirty years he served as court harpsichordist in Berlin and Potsdam, accompanying the flute-playing king in his evening concerts.
The post was prestigious but frustrating: the conservative king preferred other composers, and Bach's pay lagged behind theirs. In 1768 he finally left to succeed his godfather Telemann as director of music for the five main churches of Hamburg, one of the most important posts in Germany. There he wrote church music by the hundred, ran a busy concert life, and published much of his finest keyboard music. He died in Hamburg in 1788.
Music and style
C. P. E. Bach was the leading master of the empfindsamer Stil, the "sensitive style": music meant to move the listener through rapid changes of feeling. His works are full of sudden pauses, abrupt shifts of key and dynamics, sighing figures, and passages that sound almost improvised. His favorite instrument was the clavichord, a quiet keyboard that lets the player shade each note.
His Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753 and 1762) was the most important keyboard treatise of the century, studied by Haydn, Beethoven, and generations of teachers.
Key works
- Hamburg Symphonies, Wq 182 (1773) - six dramatic, unpredictable symphonies for strings.
- Solfeggietto in C minor - a short, rushing keyboard piece loved by piano students.
- Magnificat in D major (1749) - a festive choral work showing his debt to his father.
- Sonatas "for connoisseurs and amateurs" (1779–1787) - six collections of sonatas, rondos, and fantasias.
- Flute Concerto in D minor - a fiery work for flute and strings. See concerto.
Legacy
Haydn said that he owed a great deal to C. P. E. Bach and studied his sonatas closely, and Mozart is said to have remarked, "He is the father, we are the children." Long overshadowed by his father, his music is now prized for its originality and emotional daring. See also the harpsichord.
Where to start listening: the Solfeggietto, then one of the Hamburg Symphonies, such as No. 2 in B-flat major, for a taste of his surprises.